These 20 quotes take you inside Albert Einstein's revolutionary mind

9/07/2015

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Over the past several years, Albert Einstein's name has turn
out to be synonymous with genius. In his lifespan, Einstein surely changed the
world of physics, describing the workings of realism better than anyone since Sir
Isaac Newton and revealing the know-hows of the atom bomb. He was also named as
Person of the Century in 1999 by TIME. Here are 20 of Einstein's most significant
quotes; each will take you inside the mind of the genius.

On authority

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy
of truth."

On scope

"Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But there is
no doubt in my mind that the lion belongs with it even if he cannot reveal
himself to the eye all at once because of his huge dimension."

On politics

"I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by
makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to
any state or national entity whatsoever."

On certainty

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they
are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
reality."

"As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough
intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence
is when confronted with what exists."

On relativity

"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems
like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute - and it's longer
than any hour. That's relativity."

On his growth

"It is true that my parents were worried because I began
to speak fairly late, so that they even consulted a doctor. I can't say how old
I was - but surely not less than three."

On common sense

"Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of
prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen."

On success

"If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus
Z. Work is X; Y is play, and Z is keeping your mouth shut."

On nationalism

"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles
of the human race."

On mystery

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the
mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art
and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer
marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."

On presentation

"If I were to start taking care of my grooming, I would
no longer be my own self."

On imagination

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge
is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

On education

"The aim [of education] must be the training of
independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service
to the community their highest life problem."

On ambition

"Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a
mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and
towards objective things."

On learning

"Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that
are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of
questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of
knowing."

On life

"A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell
too much on the future."

On curiosity

"The important thing is to not stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

On childhood

"The ordinary adult never gives a thought to space-time
problems ... I, on the contrary, developed so slowly that I did not begin to
wonder about space and time until I was an adult. I then delved more deeply
into the problem than any other adult or child would have done."

On the role of science

"One thing I have learned in a long life: That all our
science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is
the most precious thing we have."